Michelle Dockery: 'Downton is heart-warming'

Michelle Dockery thinks the secret to 'Downton Abbey's success is the "heart-warming" nature of the time period it is set in

Michelle Dockery believes people love 'Downton Abbey' because it is "very heart-warming".

The 30-year-old actress - who plays Lady Mary Crawley in the successful period drama - thinks the "nostalgia" of the era is what makes people constantly tune in, as they like seeing a time without the internet and other modern gadgetry.

She said: "The audience gets a nostalgic feeling for the period. It's a time without the internet, without mobile phones. It was an easier sort of period that people look back on and find very heart-warming."

However, modern intrusions do cause problems on the show and she reveals she was very nervous paparazzi would get hold of pictures of her in her on-screen wedding dress when the day of shooting came around.

She added to Interview magazine: "We were in this carriage - me and Hugh Bonneville - and the windows were all blacked out and there were paparazzi climbing trees trying to get a glimpse. I would have been really disappointed, actually, if someone had managed to get a snap of it."

Michelle recently revealed Oscar-nominated actor Gary Oldman was a fan of the series and even complimented her on her work in the show.

She said: "I'm such a fan of Gary Oldman, we were at an event in New York recently and he came over and sort of said he enjoyed the show and how much he loved it. That's amazing, that he's a fan."